Bloodied and Bruised (Emee)

[Naya]

38th Winter 510AV - Night It was a bloodied and slightly delirious Naya who fell out of the Red Diamond Tavern. She had left with the last of her poise and posture. She took a couple of steps into the snowy ground, and after walking for a bit, the sudden temperature changed caused her head to spin and she fell to the ground.She watched the blood still flowing from her nose stain the snow red, illuminated by the light spilling from the Tavern. She couldn't go back to the Hold, couldn't deal with the incredulous stares from the other Snowsong Vantha. They would make a story from her embarrassment, and she could not have that. There was nowhere else she could go. Except for Emee. She had heard from two gossiping Vantha in the Tavern that a Eypharian man lived in a small cottage near to the park. She knew the exact cabin they meant. It was not too far from here, and Naya was sure she could make it there with a few rests. With a struggle, Naya pushed herself to a standing position, blood thumping through her face and giving her a headache. The walk to the cabin was exhausting, and Naya would later remember little of it, the walk taxing and draining. It was a thoroughly delirious Naya who thumped three times on the door of the cabin and collapsed on the front step, semi concious and half delirious, her back leaning against the door and her head lolled to the side. Her face was covered in blood, as was her clothes - she was sure Emee would be shocked when he opened the door.

[Emee]

Emee, who hardly ever had visitors-and not at all at night- was lying in his bed with his shirt carelessly thrown on the floor next to him. He was trying to sleep, but even without the flashes it wasn't easy. At night the memories were so much clearer, like a fog chased away by beams of moonlight. So he was lying with his head slightly off the edge of his bed, listening to the silence of the night around him, when he heard noise from his door. It sounded as if someone had dragged something up his steps placed it up against his front door. Emee raised his head curiously, listening for more sounds. He didn't hear anything, but he was sure the sound had been there. Perhaps a stray animal? Emee got up and kicked his shirt to the side, clearing the little free space in his cabin. Then he opened the door, and murmured words of surprise as a Vantha woman fell over at the loss of something to rest her back on, landing with her head between Emee's legs. Emee saw the blood on his entrance and on the woman, and a shock went through him as he realized that the woman was badly wounded. Without further thought, he pulled the woman inside and closed the door after checking outside for any belongings or clues as to why she was here. Then he grabbed the woman under her arms, trying to pull her up in his bed. He wouldn't have a wounded Vantha lady in his house, and not offer her a soft place to lie down. With some pushing he managed to get most of the woman up on the bed, an arm and leg still sticking out. It would do. Looking at the woman, she seemed familiar. He couldn't quite tell who she was with all the blood, and her nose seemed to be badly hurt. There wasn't few Vantha in Avanthal either, and by now Emee knew quite a lot of them. He prepared some water in a bowl, and picked up his shirt. It was cheap, like everything else he owned: he couldn't afford much. So it didn't really matter if it got some blood on it, and he felt he should help the woman with her face before he did anything else. He didn’t know much about medicine, but he was sure it was no good if the blood froze on her face. Washing away all the blood in her face he blinked and checked again. Yes, this was Naya. The Vantha he had sworn to be best friends with the other day, in front of the bonfire at the Menagerie. This was quite the surprise, because she had seemed like such a peaceful girl when they met. Now she seemed like she had been in a fight, and Emee shrugged as he came upon the thought of her being attacked by a violent man in the streets. Another thing was that she was much shorter than he remembered. Sitting over her in the bed, Emee started talking with a low and soothing voice, as she seemed to have fallen asleep upon reaching his door. “Naya? How are you feeling?” Emee began with a short and simple question, not wanting to bombard her poor mind with questions in a state like this. It didn’t matter what had happened or explaining that he was the same person she had met by the bonfire, that could come later. With his unfocused and all-seeing silvery eyes he looked curiously down at the violated woman.

[Naya]

Naya groaned as she fell backwards when the door opened, crying out as her head crashed against the floor. She didn't have the energy to pull herself up, nor could she verbalise her thoughts, the pain slowing her thought processes. She moaned in pain, still adjusting to the situation, as the man pulled her inside and began to push her onto the bed. It hurt, hurt like hell, but she was still too out of it to say anything. She felt her back on something sort -- a bed, and began to open her eyes blearily. She felt cool damp cloth on her face, and assumed, correctly, that he was clearing her face of any blood. She wondered what her nose looked like - probably nothing pretty. It certainly felt like it took up the majority of her face at the moment. Naya groaned as he spoke close to her ear, and shook her head, slightly. "Softer... please...." She struggled a bit trying to sit up, but found it too much effort and sunk back onto the bed. "It hurts. Got into a fight. Fix it?" It took far too much effort to keep her eyes open or to keep talking, so she screwed her eyes shut and sighed, trying to focus on anything but the pain. She groped for one of Emee's hand, and finding it occupied with wet cloth, she flung the cloth away and slipped her smaller hand inside his bigger one, gripping it hard. It did not occur to Naya's befuddled state that four limbs were missing.

[Emee]

Naya's voice was low and hardly more than mumbled words describing her condition, but it was enough for Emee to grasp a simple understanding and try his best to help. He looked around for something soft to support Naya’s head when she mumbled forth something about “softer”. All he had was a pillow, which was already under her head. Desperate to give her comfort, he sat down beside her and put her head on his lap as he brushed her hair away from her nose. It didn’t look too bad, except from the nose clearly pointing to one side. “Who did you fight?”, Emee asked, holding Naya’s hand and continuously stroking her hair with his free hand. He tried remembering where he could find a healer in Avanthal, but nothing came to mind. He wanted to see Naya get a little better before he helped her anywhere else though, so he wouldn’t need to worry about that just yet. When her head cleared, maybe she could tell him herself?

[Naya]

Naya gritted her teeth as Emee lifted her head, gentle though he was, and lay her head in his lap. She sighed with pleasure as her head was placed gently down again, his hand stroking her hair. It felt nice, right, like he cared for her legitimately. She was glad she came to him for help. She would not have gotten this sort of love anywhere else. She smiled slightly, the rest she was getting making the throbbing pain go down a little, as he accepted her hand and kept stroking her hair. She cringed as he asked her why she had gotten beat up so bad. He had a feeling he wouldn't be too approving of her reasoning. "Girl told me I was bad at telling stories. I called her short. She hit me." She took a deep breath and prepared to start talking again, despite the shock waves it sent up her head. "She was short. Shorter than you, Emee!" Naya slowly opened her eyes, vision adjusting from blurry to focused. She smiled up at Emee, until she realised that this was not Emee. The man who held her head in his lap was tall, with shiny blue skin, horns and only two arms. If Naya had had the strength, she would have wrenched her arm away and jumped off his lap. She tried to raise her head, but moaned with pain. Her eyes were wide with panic and distrust. "What the petch. You're not Emee. What did you do with Emee, you bastard?!"

[Emee]

Emee shrugged at Naya's explanation. First of all, he couldn't believe that the Vantha got into fights that easily. Second, a lot of people were shorter than him. He was about to mention this to her when she opened her beautiful eyes, focused on his face, and smiled. Emee couldn't help but smile back. Then suddenly she tried to move away, and her eyes widened. Emee looked down at her with great worry in his eyes, and held her head down wile hushing her. "Relax. The Emee you know is gone at night. He goes another place, and then I'm around to watch over his friends and his belongings. Please don't go, you'll never make it out there without hurting yourself more..." Emee's voice seemed desperate, and yet it still had the ever calm, soothing tone behind it. What he said wasn't entirely true, but in Emee's head this was not a lie. It was a different explanation to gain her trust, for her own safety. He'd explain further when he saw a good chance to do so. Or she'd figure it out by herself. That would be best.

[Naya]

Naya began to panic just a little bit. Just a lot. This tall shimmering half naked bloke was forcibly holding her down. Normally, she would not have complained - heck, she would have liked it. But her nose was throbbing and she wanted Emee. Since Emee, everything had changed. She didn't want to seduce just anyone. Emee's pure innocence and gentleness made her realise that there was so much more to love. But this was not Emee. The Emee pretender spoke quietly, desperately, pleading Naya to believe him. His voice was rather sincere, strained with emotion. But it did not make sense to Naya that Emee would just disappear at nights, that he would just leave his home in the hands of this strange, alien looking man. Naya began to shake her head, moaning from the pain caused by the jolting as she did so, but determined to find Emee. "You're not Emee. I want Emee. What have you done with Emee?" Naya pushed off the man's hands, and slowly seated herself upright. Her head swam but she managed not to fall back to the bed. Bit by bit, she managed to stand up on two feet, and she stood a few feet from Emee. Slowly, she managed to take four steps, teetering slightly, until she fell to the floor with a crash and a cry.

[Emee]

Emee sighed as he saw the distrust in her eyes. His best friend, and she wouldn’t believe him. How could she know? He looked away for a moment, trying to think of the best way of explaining. Suddenly his lap felt lighter, and his hands were thrown away. Confused, he looked down at Naya, but she was gone. Then he heard a cry and the sound a body makes when it loses balance and hits the ground. Chills went down his spine as he recognized the sound as the sound a dead man makes when he finishes his final step. With that thought in his head, he jumped out of his bed with a terrified look in his face- and as he feared, Naya was lying on the ground. “What happened? How? I didn’t…” Emee talked half to himself, half to the body he now stood over shaking, and in his voice grew a hint of guilt. Then he managed to pull Naya over on the side, and saw that she was still alive. “Oh!” he then said, smiling with great relief. He helped her up to a sitting position again, and checked her nose. “Maybe we should get you to a healer right away…”

[Naya]

Naya groaned again as not-Emee pulled her up into a sitting position. He was rough in the way his hands grabbed her body and pulled her up. Her nose was really sore, and she was beginning to think that when the angry woman had been punching her, her head had bashed against the floor or something. The memory was a blur now, and everything hurt. The non-Emee did seem sincere in his worry and care for Naya. He was not Emee, not even close, with his stupid glimmery skin and horns - but he seemed to care. And he seemed like he would help, a belief which was supported when he expressed his worry and need for her to get a healer. Stuggling upwards, ignoring the throbbing, she began to lecture him. "You're not Emee. Not even close to Emee. But my nose hurts and my head hurts and I want a healer. Could you please please take me to a healer?" She gripped his forearm throughout the speech in order to convey just how important this was. She needed a healer. She didn't want a crooked nose for eternity.

[Emee]

Emee looked Naya into the eyes as she spoke to him, talking as if she was giving him a lecture. He didn’t say anything, and let her talk. She wasn’t entirely clear in mind, and interrupting her would, he imagined, lead her into worse mood. That wouldn’t do him any good, so complying blindly sounded like a great plan. It hurt his feelings that Naya didn’t see who he was, but he couldn’t blame her for it. He forced a smile on his face, and nodded obediently. “Then I shall take you to a healer,” Emee said, and added “Lady Vantha.” He picked his shirt up from the floor, and helped her stand. “Are you ready to walk, Lady?”, he asked as he put on his shirt and looked out of the window. The night was still young, but he couldn’t see anyone outside. She wouldn’t see him change today, and hopefully no-one would see her nose.